Chapter 24: The Black Widow

Anyone daring enough to venture into this line of work is never an easy target. Luke’s mech, with its miniature stature of 1.2 meters, is particularly misleading. It gives others the illusion that this contraption isn’t much to be feared.

“Blast it to pieces! Open fire!”
Both crime lords barked out the command at the same time. Did these fools not realize who they were dealing with? Attempting a heist against them—were they tired of living?

All the gunmen in the arena quickly turned their weapons, more than a hundred in total from both sides, unleashing a barrage on Luke! The bullets rained down like a storm.

Yet, as they struck the mech’s body, the only result was a chorus of metallic clangs, utterly ineffective.

The mech stirred. It strode forward, closing the distance to the nearest gunmen, and with a single punch, sent each of them flying through the air.

Luke piloted the mech toward the spot where someone was hiding. Along the way, he knocked out a dozen more, scooping up discarded guns as he passed. “Oh, there’s even a 98K here.”

“What junk.” Luke lifted his foot and crushed it.
Who still uses a 98K these days? Even a scrap collector like him couldn’t stand it.

When Luke reached the place, the bullets struck his back in waves, but he paid them no mind. He activated the loudspeaker and addressed a slender figure hiding in the trench below. “Good evening, Agent Romanoff. Quite the taste—here to admire the moon?”

Black Widow felt her luck had been abysmal lately.
She was on vacation when suddenly she received an assignment: investigate a certain individual.
Relying on her professional skills, she had infiltrated the notorious Russian mafia, using her Russian identity to gain initial trust.

Tonight, she intended to pursue her target. When the chaos erupted, she was interrogating a mafia member she had bound tightly.
A violent explosion sounded nearby, perhaps from another street. The building beneath her shook.
What followed was an unexpected, intense firefight outside!

Black Widow thought her cover had been blown.
Yet, when she emerged, she realized it wasn’t so.
She stared blankly at the frenzied combatants around her. How did a routine night devolve into this?
Finding herself at the heart of the battlefield, she quickly assessed the situation.
It appeared the mafia she had infiltrated was under a coordinated attack from several rival gangs.

Caught in the crossfire, she had no choice but to rely on her extraordinary skills to break through the most ferocious part of the fighting.

A simple espionage mission had suddenly become an escape for survival.
She was speechless. The mission had failed; survival was now paramount.

Yet, just as she managed to break out, she found herself swept up in another brutal battle between two unknown factions.
Black Widow was utterly at a loss—had everyone lost their minds tonight?

She decided to find a concealed spot and hide for the moment.
When Luke’s mech descended from the sky, she was peering out, instantly spotting the machine.
She paused for a moment, immediately thinking of someone.

When the loudspeaker emitted a strange voice, calling her name, Black Widow knew trouble had found her again. Whoever this person was, he knew her.

“Good evening, Agent Romanoff. Quite the taste—here to admire the moon?”

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
Black Widow crouched, glancing outside, planning to leave this cursed place at the earliest opportunity.

“Natasha Romanoff, former Soviet operative, born in 1984, height 1.70 meters, weight 57 kilograms, measurements… cough cough. Currently working for S.H.I.E.L.D.”

These statistics were calculated on-site by Kristina.

Black Widow halted.
She turned, arching her brows, and asked the mech, “Who are you? Where are you? Clearly, you’re not inside this machine.”

Luke remained noncommittal. “Where I am doesn’t matter.” He manipulated the mech to give a thumbs-up, gesturing behind himself. “What matters is, these people seem to have noticed you.”

Black Widow wanted to retort, “That’s because of you!”

She had been well-hidden, intending to withdraw once the fighting died down.
Who would have thought this stranger would drag her into the open, fully exposing her?

Bullets continued to pour onto Luke, ricocheting off the mech in a cacophony.
Seeing their efforts were futile, the mobsters began to encircle him, guns drawn.

The mech turned, putting its back to Black Widow. Luke said to her, “If you don’t want to die, climb on. I’ll fly you out of here.”

Black Widow hesitated.
A woman, late at night, getting into a strange man’s vehicle—hardly wise.

Yet, she sensed no malice in his words.
Given the situation, she saw no other option. Even with her abilities, escaping unharmed would be difficult.

She gritted her teeth, agilely leapt from the trench, and grabbed onto the mech, pressing herself against its back.

“Hold tight.”

The mech soared instantly, its feet blasting twin streams of fire, shooting upward like a rocket in the night.

At a height of 130 meters, the mech halted its ascent, hovering in place with its jet propulsion.
Luke seemed to be waiting for something.

Black Widow glanced downward, nervously speaking from the mech’s back, “Damn it, what are you doing? You’re making us sitting ducks!”

Below, several mobsters had produced their ominous, bulky… RPG launchers!

The RPGs were raised, already aimed at them in the sky.

Black Widow knew these weapons well—their effective range exceeded 250 meters. Their current altitude was anything but safe!

“Damn it!”

She regretted boarding this black vehicle…
She wanted to get off…

At that moment, Luke announced, “Justice from above!”

On both sides of the mech, at the armpits, two windows opened without warning.

From the dark openings, black objects began to shoot out, invisible in the night.

The mech fired continuously for three seconds.

Twenty-four unidentified projectiles dropped, precisely targeting their designated spots below.

What followed was a scene Black Widow would never forget.

The plaza below, covering at least a thousand square meters, was instantly lit as bright as day!

Blinding white light and eerie blue radiance intertwined, flooding every corner where mobsters hid. Those wielding RPGs were engulfed first.

The next moment—

Boom!

A sequence of thunderous explosions, like a storm of lightning in the night, shook all of New York!

At 130 meters above, Black Widow was momentarily dizzy, her ears deafened, then filled with a long, persistent ringing.

She gaped in astonishment, staring at the destruction below.

After the blast, the plaza had vanished.

In its place was a bizarrely shaped crater, at least a dozen meters deep by her estimate…